The minute you set foot in Big-D’s corporate headquarters, you’ll realize that the glass truly is greener on the other side. With more natural light and better air quality, LEED-certified buildings incorporate a wealth of “green” features designed to conserve natural resources, enhance and protect natural habitats, decrease greenhouse emissions, improve employee health, comfort and productivity, and contribute to community vitality and aesthetics.
The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System is a voluntary standards and certification program that defines high-performance green buildings — which are more environmentally responsible, healthier, and more profitable structures.
LEED Accredited Professionals are experienced building industry practitioners who have demonstrated their knowledge of integrated design and a capacity to facilitate the LEED certification. Accredited professionals must pass an intensive exam, which covers green building practices and principles, and LEED requirements, resources and processes.
Maintaining in-house, full-time LEED-accredited professionals enables Big-D to more easily facilitate green-build projects. This fact was demonstrated in 2005 with the grand opening of Big-D’s corporate headquarters building in Salt Lake City. The project — one of only a few buildings on the National Register of Historic Places that is also LEED certified — was managed entirely by an in-house LEED-accredited professional.
